Linux installer question

[omega2]

I was looking into Linux, maybe installing it. But i want to get a few info before I do. I know there are one click type installation of programs etc. services but you usually have to pay for a subscription of some sort. But what if you don't want to subscribe to those type of things, or you download something that isn't on that list. Then how would you install it? The file names are usually in the form of TGZ which I believe is tar gunzip. Isn't there a simple way of installing these little stuff like windows so-call setup.exe?

 

[BorisM]

TGZ is just like a regular zip file. Once you extract it, you will usually get an RPM file if you downloaded a program. Most programs come in RPM form. Distributions such as Mandrake open RPM files with an installation wizard, like a one click executable. Just follow the easy wizard and your good to go. Lycoris and Lindows have similar wizards.

 

[Bremen]

For those things which you can only find as source

1. grab and download the source (normally a tar.gz filename)

2. extract the files (called untaring in *nix speak)

tar -zxvf FILENAME

3. cd into the directory

cd PROGRAMNAME

4. configure the build environment

./configure

5. compile the program

make

6. install (as root)

make install

This works for 95% of software available for linux. Of course the 5% it dosn't work on are the programs you REALLY REALLY want. Just make sure to install the development packages when you install the distro :0)

Cheers!

 

[jcmkk]

One of the things that a (ex)Windows user will find when coming to linux is the variety of packages (ways of installing programs) available. The usual standard is RPM (RedHat Package Manager) used by RedHat, Mandrake, and a lot of other distributions. Most people have came to the conclusion that RPM isn't a very good package management system. I would suggest using Debian, Gentoo, Knoppix (based off Debian) which use much better package management systems. These systems will go out and find all of the needed libraries and components to install the application you want. Gentoo is best for users with fast computers and broadband however since it's a source-based distro. By the way, I think TGZ files are slackwares packages. Not package files are usually in .tar.gz form.

 

[Nothinman]

Most people have came to the conclusion that RPM isn't a very good package management system

RPM is perfectly fine, it's practically equivilant to Debian's .deb packages.

I would suggest using Debian, Gentoo, Knoppix (based off Debian) which use much better package management systems.

Debian uses a wrapper around it's package system called APT, you can get APT for RPM based distros if you want.

Gentoo is best for users with fast computers and broadband however since it's a source-based distro

Gentoo is best for users with lots of free time, just compiling X on my dual 1.2Ghz Athlon takes over a half hour so imagine waiting to compile all of KDE or Gnome after that, then all the little utils you want. If you want to learn Linux inside and out you can install Slackware, Debian, Gentoo, etc and you'll basically be forced to learn a lot up front, each has their own benefits but in reality speed isn't one of them.

By the way, I think TGZ files are slackwares packages. Not package files are usually in .tar.gz form.

.tgz is a hack for Windows boxes that only work with 8.3 filenames so that .tar.gz files can be stored on them, it just happens that Slackware uses tar.gz files for it's packages.

 

[n0cmonkey]

I believe there is information on this in the linux faq thread.